Summer Safety
This summer may look a little different in the COVID-19 world, but one thing that does remain constant is that safety should be at the forefront of everyone’s minds as crowds and traffic increase and outdoor activities become available. Dr. Willy foster is the Emergency Department director at Peace Harbor hospital and while he says that increases in emergency rooms visits do occur during the summer the level of trauma is not necessarily the same for recreational injuries as they would be for automobile accidents.
“Generally they are less serious, typically broken bones just because they are not going as fast. They fall down they break a wrist, something like that, they dislocate a shoulder, but generally a less severe mechanism of injury.”
Foster says always be aware of your surroundings and know the potential dangers of each activity that you are participating in and wear the proper safety equipment. Foster also reminds us that alcohol does play a significant role in potential accidents and should be avoided during these activities.
Reopening Playgrounds
Certain areas of local parks have been closed since the beginning of the governor’s executive order requiring people to ‘stay home save lives’. But now that Lane County is in Phase 2 of the reopening many cities have opted to open play areas. Florence has waited until this week to begin to reopen their play equipment, partly because of differing guidelines that has come rom the Oregon Health Authority and the Governor’s office. At the end of last week clarification came down from the Governor and OHA that has made it possible for Florence to proceed according to Public Works Director Mike Miller.
“We just got the guidance the other day so we are moving forward and we’ll be opening up the playgrounds this week.”
Part of the confusion according to Miller was the required frequency of cleaning in some of the high touch areas. Although the public works department is fully staffed and able to accomplish their tasks, the additional cleaning efforts does put a small strain on manpower. Playground equipment and public restrooms require a twice daily cleaning and sanitation. Miller says they have been following those guidelines for public restrooms and will add playgrounds as they begin to open.
Third 3-Digit Day for Coronavirus
For the third consecutive day the Oregon Health Authority is reporting over 100 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the state. Yesterday an additional 122 cases have been added to the roster with again Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties accounting for a significant amount of those cases. Marion and Umatilla counties also saw an increase of 17 and 12 respectively, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 6,218. There has been one more death attributed to COVID-19 also…a 95 year old Clackamas County woman tested positive on June 4, and died on June 11. Lane County did not see an increase yesterday and stands at 90 cases, one of those being presumptive.
Humane Society Elects Two New Board Members
The Oregon Coast Humane Society has announced that two new board members have been added as a result of their 2020 election. Laurie Arms and Michael Kello, both of Florence join the board. Arms is a retired Registered Nurse who has been actively volunteering at the OCHS Thrift store. Kello has served for both public and private social services over the years. Board treasurer Sandy Davidson was also
elected to a second term.
